I was sitting down with some friends Sunday afternoon and we were talking about the likely hood of success. What the odds are for someone to make it as an entrepreneur and how many people are left in the wake with broken hearts and dreams.
To be honest, the majority of business owners or label them as, “entrepreneurs,” if you want, are likely to fail.
However, the entrepreneurs that end up succeeding are the ones who learn from failure. They don’t allow failure to get them down. They see it as a learning curve. A learning curve that takes hard work, determination and risk taking.
There are cases where first time entrepreneurs succeed, but it’s in the minority of society.
Entrepreneurship isn’t for the fearful amongst us, it takes a certain type of person to be able to push past the unconventional thinking patterns, hard work, stress, risk-taking, unstable and secure-less lifestyle.
I decided to make a quick list of six reasons why you won’t make it as an entrepreneur. Don’t see these as stumbling blocks though, if you believe, you can achieve. All of us started somewhere.
1. Can’t handle the unknown
This seems simple as life is lived in an unknown fashion, but it’s about more than that. It comes down to not knowing how the ins and outs of your industry, the relentless competition, where your next paycheck is coming from or even how far down – success road, your company is going to be in 12 months.
It’s a mix of variables that are only lightly explored in the paragraph above and can dig much deeper than the scenarios mentioned.
2. Can’t handle stress
I’m sorry. Did I just use a word you don’t like? Deal with it. Stress is part of climbing the ladder. Whether in a corporate environment or starting a new business, you encounter stress. It’s up to you to decide how you handle it, whether it motivates you or mean the end of you.
A person can learn to handle stress in different ways and some people are more prone to it than others. If you can’t handle stress, I wouldn’t advise entrepreneurship.
3. Don’t want to work more than 6 hours a day
It’s probably one of the most frequent things I come across. Yes, established and successful entrepreneurs do have more freedom than those just starting out. We are able to set our own schedules and work around that, but if you’re looking at becoming an entrepreneur, you should be married to the grind. Ok, not literally, but you shouldn’t be scared or find it irregular to work 12-16 hour days. Everyday of the week.
If you’re passionate about what you’re building, there shouldn’t be anything stopping you.
4. Need a lot of personal time
Unfortunately you won’t get paid if you take personal time off. You stipulate and set the bar for your income by how many hours you put into crafting your result. If you’re fond of personal/me time, entrepreneurship isn’t a good fit for you.
5. Can’t sacrifice time
The majority of society always points out how important work and life balance is. As a fellow entrepreneur, I agree, it’s important, but only after I’ve hit my goals, closed my deals and don’t have to worry about my bills or lifestyle expenses.
A lot of entrepreneurs nowadays emphasize on putting family first, however, when they were grinding away and working hard, they weren’t married, have kids or grand-kids. Times change and so do priorities.
A work life balance is important, but make sure it fits into your schedule of how you do things.
6. Can’t handle delayed self gratification
Most important of them all. If you are impatient and want results now. Don’t become an entrepreneur. We focus on long term returns and ignore short term gratification. It takes years to build your company into a sustainable enterprise. Yes, there are exceptions, but those are rare and can’t be bargained upon.
You have to understand that sacrifice is part of the journey. It is what makes it all worth it.
Conclusion
The world are full of people that are stuck in corporate positions that are perfectly formed to become entrepreneurs and they now have the experience to pursue entrepreneurship. I am never against anyone looking to get into entrepreneurship and encourage it on the contrary. Just make sure you commit to it and don’t give up when the first wall goes up. Push through it and pursue your dreams. There is nothing better than showing someone you made it that doubted you in the first place.
